Having seen Ep. I and II would you...

[Teek]

Spoilers may be present in this thread.

With the release of Ep. II is there anything from the Original Trilogy that you would like to see changed? GL is rumored to have shot scenes during the making of II that he plans on reinserting for the dvd/rerelease of the OT after Ep. III. Is there anything you feel should be further changed or altered back? I'm sure everyone will agree on the Luke ESB Scream and Greedo shooting first being changed back. But in regards to scenes, shots, storypoints being altered, is there any you suggest?

[NelsonCoressel]

Ever since I first heard that Lucas shot some additional footage during the making of AOTC to possibly use in ANH, I wondered if what he did was just film some details or a backplate to digitally insert into the later episodes.
So, I bet he will add Shmi's tombstone, or maybe tombstones for Shmi and Cliegg Lars, into the existing shots of the Lars homestead.

I would also hope to see Ian McD replace Clive whats-his-name in ESB.

Among some details in ANH that should be fixed to add more visual continuity to the whole saga are a couple of lightsaber mistakes. *At this point, ILM has the technology to easily smooth out the jump-cuts whenever Luke ignites his lightsaber. And of course the brief shot of the white plastic stick that Vader is carrying as the Death Star hanger doors are closing could be digitally fixed, along with Obi-Wan's fizzling lightsaber during his fight with Vader (unless it's supposed to do that).

So to me it's primarily visual continuity that I would suggest, rather than adding dialogue or entire scenes to Ep.4, 5 & 6.

[Tovor]

Palpatine is a major player through the 1st trilogy, and Coruscant a major location, yet you don't see either again until ROTJ (not counting the Clive Reville hologram, but including the SE Coruscant). *I hope that GL will film and insert a few new scenes into the Ultimate Special Edition trilogy, such as:

A continuation of Darth Vader's line to the commander on the Blockade Runner, to inform the Senate that the ship was hit by asteroids and destroyed.

Coruscant in ANH, Emperor Palpatine in his palace throne room conferring with his Imperial advisors. *Bail Organa, played again by Jimmy Smits, enters and confronts Palpatine about the news of the Alderanian ship's dissappearance. *He claims that he received reports that the ship was not destroyed by asteroids but was in Imperial custody and its crew held as prisoners. *He demands the release of the crew and his daughter. *Organa promises that he will inform the Senate of the illegal imprisonment of the ships crew and of Senator Leia Organa, and that the Senate will force the Emperor to release her.
Palpatine threatened to charge Bail with guilt by association to his daughter, and ordered his guards to force him onto a ship and send him back to Alderaan. *Then he gave word to other Imperial officials that he was going to disband the inaffective and traitorous Senate and rule his empire by his own accord.

Later, on Alderaan:
Bail Organa speaking to Mom Mothma and General Dadonna via holocommunications about his daughter and the Death Star plans. *Mothma says that without the Senate there was no way to protest the emperor's actions. *Further rebel action would be needed for there was no other hope. *Then Organa was interrupted by terrified aids and informed of the Death Star's arrival in the Alderaan system. *Cut to the Alderaanians looking up into the sky at the sight of the menacing Death Star. *Then cut again to the Death Star control room where Leia is brought before Tarkin and ordered to reveal the location of the rebel base.

What else?
Kenobi was wearing his hood much of the time if I remember, so refilming parts of the duel and inserting them along with new shots of a Vader stunt double, could be done and the duel would not look so lame after the duels of the first 3 episodes. *I'm saying make old Ben's moves more consistant with the style and speed of the prequels Obi-Wan. *Using old Ben's age as an excuse to accept his slow movements is no longer valid after seeing the 79 year old Count Dooku's Christopher Lee in action.
What else?
After seeing Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan plowing through the TPM battledroids and the Jedi in AOTC deflecting shots back to those who fired them, Vader walking onto the blockade runner after danger was past is kinda lame, ya know? *I would like to see new shots of Vader on the rebel ship fired at by rebels, and producing his lightsaber and deflecting the shots back.
Without a doubt, I wish to see a smiliar event occur while Vader strode through the rebel base on Hoth in TESB.

Unless GL has a valid reason for having only humans rather than some aliens in the imperial ranks and the rebel forces (aside from not having the budget back then), I would like to see a few aliens here and there digitally inserted wearing imperial uniforms going about their duties on the Death Star and Star Destroyers, including (MAJOR SPOILER, BEWARE) Geonosians sitting at the Death Star conferance table. *I would also like to see some non-humans other than Chewie along with the rebels.

What else?
After the rebel ship is captured over Tatooine, and Leia captured and confronted by Vader, I would like to see Vader standing alone by a window looking out onto the familiar planet. *He will not reveal his thoughts to his officers or anybody else, but we will know what he is thinking and feeling upon seeing that world again.

What else?
Vader on the Star Destroyer reporting to the Emperor via hologram.
Palpatine: "Why would she have set her course for Tatooine of all lowly places? *Have you considered this, Lord Vader?"
Vader: "The rebel base is not in that system, my Master, if that is what you are suggesting. *Aside from that, there is nothing of that world which I wish to consider or return to, my master."

[RollaFett]

I like some of your thoughts here Tover. Chief among them would be the lightsaber dule in ANH. Also, including Bail Organa in ANH sounds pretty cool. More species scattered throughout the rebellion and Empire would't hurt either. Although in ROTJ there are several different species visible during the battle plan scene.

Something that I would like to see changed, but it probably won't, would be in ANH during the lightsaber duel. Vader has a line referring to himself as 'the master', Obi-Wan counters with, 'Only a master of evil, Darth.' Ever since I learned that 'darth' was a Sith lord title, I never liked Obi-Wan's use of it there. Why not simply refer to him as Vader? I think it's obvious the reason is because GL didn't think that far ahead (or behind, for that matter) yet and know that 'darth' was a title or rank at that point. But it still bothers me.

[Tovor]

Obi-Wan counters with, 'Only a master of evil, Darth.' Ever since I learned that 'darth' was a Sith lord title, I never liked Obi-Wan's use of it there.

That is an interesting opinion, which I can almost agree with, but I have an idea of my own. Here goes:
From the Jedi viewpoint, to be called a Jedi meant to be on the side of goodness, compassion, and justice. A Darth, or Dark Lord of the Sith, was an obomination to the Jedi, a contrast to the gallant and honorable Jedi defender of peace. So I see it like this, Vader was stating that as a Jedi he followed a failed path, but as a Sith lord he was superior to the title of Jedi. "When I left you I was a learner" (subordinate to you and your judgement of me), "now I am the Master" (now I am greater than you and I have surpassed what you tried to make me into). So Obi-Wan's statement implied that he was a master of evil, not Jedi; that he was a "Darth" and an insult to what the Jedi stand for. I have no clue whether what I wrote is coherent, but I need to get to sleep and be in court in 8 hours to hear lawyers argue someone's guilt or innocence (jury duty), so I'd better save my SW thoughts for a later time. To be continued, maybe...

[Senator Theant]

The reason why there arent any aliens of any kind in the ranks of the Empire is quite simple. In the Essential Chronology of Star Wars, it mentions Palpatine's dislike for all non human species. During the reign of the Empire, entire non human planets were subjugated and forced into labor camps to produce the war materiel necessary for the war effort. Palpatine is a prejudicial sob who cant stand any thing other than the ideal species. Now he sounds exactly like Hitler huh?

[Jo-Na Bast]

I speculate that rather than seeing imperial aliens in E456 we will somehow see a forceful takeover of the kaminoan cloning facilities and possibly geonosis by Palpatines guys. The kaminoans appear to be neutral and they are graceful and live in peaceful surroundings so it makes for a neat display of evil to have the clone troopers wipe them out.
Apart from that i completely agree about the obi/vader duel being reshot. they could even have ewan do it (in grey-dyed hair) so that if we in our fanatical sharp-eyedness notice him we won't think much about it.
About Obi-Wan referring to Anakin as 'darth' it's probably to point out that he's a representative of evil more than an individual. I personally think GL knew that 'Darth' was a title and not a name when ANH was made. In the scripts he's always called 'Vader' and never 'Darth'

[Seanakin]

Tov, I like your ideas, except for one thing: they're too literal. *They stunt the imagination. *Which was my biggest beef with the SE trilogy. *I like the idea that the audience is rarely trated to Imperial Rules and Procedures and Protocol and such, because if they were, it'd be more like Star TREK.

Besides, the films' best moments occur when we, errrrrr, I need to suspend my belief in God, grammar, and/or gravity. *It IS a fantasy, after all.

I'm not saying they ALL have that problem, though...I particularly like the idea of a voiceless shot of Vader gazing over Tatooine just long enough for audiences to feel that vibe of painful memories. *Still, I don't see the need to elaborate on it. *That's what the book is for, IMO.

[Justin]

Why screw with a classic? Most of the Special Edition changes sucked, and the only real change that I thought was totally necessary was the new ending to Return of the Jedi. Sure, some things like the windows on Cloud City were nice, but the CGI creatures looked unbelievably fake, and most of the major changes (Greedo fires first for instance) were downright stupid, and often cheapened the movies. I would have been happy if they had restored the films without adding anything. I don't think anything needs to be added. *I hope that when the original trilogy is released on DVD, both versions will be available, like the T2 and The Abyss DVDs.

[Nathan Butler]

Knowing Lucas and his tinkering, it could end up more like the T2 DVD.

Wait, you did know that the T2 DVD has THREE versions of the film on it, not just two, right?

[Tovor]

Wait, you did know that the T2 DVD has THREE versions of the film on it, not just two, right?

I did not know, and that is interesting. I do not have a DVD player as yet, but your info intrigues me enough to expect to buy T2 if and when I get one. Can you elaborate a bit on the 3 versions? Different endings, film lengths, ect? (I do have the T2 SE video with extra footage)

[Nathan Butler]

The "Enhanced Special Edition" doesn't add much. If you have the VHS SE like I did for a while, then you might remember the T-1000 in John's bedroom or the ending with an older Sarah. Those are added in, plus a tiny bit more, I think.

It's all accessible through the SE options screen, where there's a stack of blocks in the background that look like Roman numerals. They stand for the date of Judgement Day, and if you enter them, it gives you the ESE options.

I'd love to see something like that with the Classic Trilogy when it hits DVD. Original, SE, then whatever was altered this time around.

[DanielSkywalker]

I am definitely hearing some interesting stuff here. A few things that have always bothered me about EPIV was the fact that we never saw Alderaan, the dual with Kenobi and Vader was kinda' lacking, and Palpatine is nowhere to be found. I think Tovor had some good ideas about the Alderaan and Bail Organa thing. That would be great to see since the prequal trilogy includes Bail and I'm pretty sure that EPIII will show us Alderaan.

[BL-17]

The SE DVD set has been released for quite some time now, just not in the U.S. It's on sale at eBay...

Star Wars DVD's (http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&ebaytag1code=0&query=Star+Wars+DVD)

I heard it wasn't due to come out in the U.S for three years.

[The Doctor]

Here's my take on the subject: The Star Wars saga should really be watched 4,5,6,1,2,3. Otherwise all the cool stuff you already know about ("I am your father" etc.)
For this reason I don't have any big problem with the OT, I don't really think we need to see an insane lightsabre fight between Obi and Vader, if only because I really think Obi-wan was just buying time for Luke to escape. For the same reason I don't think it is necessary to see Bail Organa talking to the emperor and so on since you won't see him again until ep 2.
Some changes could be cool though, but I would prefer to keep it to incidental stuff, like the headstones on Lars Homestead, nothing that messes with the main characters.

[looceefir]

I agree that Alderaan must be shown in Ep III, if we see it in that then Ep IV has much more emotional resonance.

[Jedi Luke]

Personally, I don't think they should change anything significant with the OT. The reason is because, it was a classic as it was. Sure, it would neat to see a new Vader and Obi-Wan battle in ANH but I just don't think it would work with the continuity of the film. Besides, if we believe the speculation, we will have kick &$$ Vader vs. Obi-Wan battle in EPIII, meaning that there won't be a nead to change the fight scene in ANH. Keep it as it was intended to be...

Now things they could change - well they could improve the lightsaber effects in the Obi-Wan / Vader battle. That would be ok. And change the Greedo/Han scene back to how it was!!

[looceefir]

Why was it that the Greedo scene was changed in the first place? I haven't read much about it except complaints. From what i know the SE EpIV changed it so that Greedo fires a shot at Han (that misses somehow without Han moving) then Han shoots Greedo. The original was Han shooting Greedo first? Correct?

[Justin]

Why is the word new always coming out in bold red? It's really annoying.

I just love it when you make a big point in the main body of your post and people only respond to the not-so-relevant tidbit you tack on at the end.

[nunzio]

The things that George should definitely include in a STAR WARS DVD are the fully completed Luke/ vaporator (including seeing the space battle in the daytime sky), and Anchorhead sequences. The Biggs performance and costume are outstanding. Luke's relationship with Biggs is important for story reasons as well: it lends weight to the ending when he meets up with his pal just before taking on the Death Star, and also when he loses him as his wingman and must continue on with his targeting; in addition, Biggs tells Luke that the conflict isn't so far away and Luke can no longer ignore the tyranny of the Empire.

[MonMartha]

Just one little thing: in the Original ESB, when Luke is cleaning R2 after his tangle with the Dagobah swamp thing, he quips "You're lucky you don't taste very good." In the SE, it's a different line that's not as funny. C'mon George, this is Anakin's son: he has to have inherited his father's quick wit.

[Count Dooku]

Well I would like to see special effects added to the lightsaber duels they look very weird compared to the new images of a lightsaber. I would also like to see the Emperor in ANH, I dont think he was in it, or ESB I haven't seen them for along time, maybe this weekend I'll watch them.

[qui-riv-brid]

Without a doubt a Coruscant scene must be added just before the Scene in ANH with Tarkin Vader and the Death Star command staff. Remember Tarkin comes in the room and says the Emperor has dissolved the senate so that scene should be added in along with Jar Jar in the background with Smits as Organa saying he is woried about Leia and is heading home.

Also Mcdiarmid must be added to replace the holo-image
in ESB.

[Jedi Tomo]

In ANH, I would definately like to see Alderaan just before the DS destroys it, the demise of the Imperial Senate and the Emperor via hologram. If possible, I would like to see them take out the Luke-Leia kiss. Kinda creepy after you see ROTJ.

Hey, my first post! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

[RollaFett]

I never noticed any line change from Dagaboh. :( Guess I'll have to watch it again, man, what a chore!

[Jedi Tomo]

Another thought about changes to OT. I think TESB should end with Luke returning to Dagobah to continue his training, then ROTJ would start with him leaving Yoda after he dies. *It seems that in the PT it takes at least 15 years to be a fully trained Jedi. Luke didn't seem to spend alot of time training with Yoda. *I know he's supposed to be incredibly strong in the Force, but I think they could have had him training while Leia and the others were searching for Han. *Then most of the training would take place between TESB and ROTJ which is supposed to have a year in between the two.